Budget-Making committee adds back money for needy school districts and private scholarships.

HARTFORD — The legislature's appropriations committee offered a version of the state budget Monday that brought mixed news for students, ranging from the inclusion of funding for extended-day programs in the neediest school districts and scholarships for students at private colleges, to the elimination of funding to expand charter schools.

Rep. Andrew Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, a member of the committee and co-chairman of the education committee, said the budget "reflects a commitment to children who have the greatest needs, schools with the greatest needs, and to fairness … Folks can feel proud because it protects the most vulnerable."

The budget restores $6.5 million that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had proposed cutting for the Priority School District grant program that covers extended-day programs and summer learning programs for students in struggling districts.

"If we are trying to close the achievement gap, it doesn't make sense to walk away from them," Fleischmann said.

In addition, the committee increased funding for the state's Education Cost Sharing program, up $3.7 million for next year, and $10.6 million the year after. The goal is to make the state education aid more equitable across districts — some are underfunded while others get more than the state formula calls for. Malloy had flat-funded education cost sharing grants.

The committee did not reverse the governor's plan to cut $4.7 million from the Commissioner's Network, a program that serves the state's most troubled schools. And legislators proposed a $2.5 million cut for talent development at the state Department of Education.

Charter Schools

But the cut that drew the most attention was the committee's decision to eliminate funding for two new charter schools — Capital Prep Harbor School in Bridgeport and Stamford Charter School for Excellence — that had been expected to open this fall.

The governor had included $4 million in funding for the two schools in his proposed budget.

Malloy wants to cut $12.2 million in scholarships over the next two fiscal years for...

HARTFORD — Presidents and administrators at 16 private colleges in Connecticut are lobbying against the elimination of state scholarships for their students as proposed under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's state budget.

Malloy wants to cut $12.2 million in scholarships over the next two fiscal years for...

(CHRISTOPHER KEATING)

"We did not choose to fund new charters at this time, with so many difficult cuts …" said Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, and co-chairwoman of the appropriations committee.

She noted that the committee's proposal includes funding for existing charter schools to add an additional grade if needed, so that, for instance, a fourth-grader can go on to fifth grade.

Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, and also co-chairwoman of appropriations, said the committee took "a balanced approach" to the education budget, trying to maintain the commitment to existing charters and magnet schools, but not having the funding for expansion.

"We have to rethink about how we are sharing our education dollars throughout the state," Walker said.

Jeremiah Grace, Connecticut state director for the Northeast Charter Schools Network, said in a statement that the cut in the budget proposal "ignores hundreds of parents in Bridgeport and Stamford who are expecting approved schools to open in the fall."

Steve Perry, who runs Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford and would oversee the Bridgeport school, said Monday that "while it's unfortunate that we were not in the most recent iteration of the budget," he is not "deterred in the least" and is planning to "open a school in the fall."

Perry said the school has an "extreme level" of support from the community, as well support from legislators and from Malloy. In less than five weeks, he said he has received 600 applications for the 250 seats in the school, even though the school does not yet have a building or staff.

At the Board of Regents for Higher Education, spokesman Michael W. Kozlowski said that the committee's version of the state budget provided an additional $19 million, which he said would bring the system within $9 million of closing a budget gap that now stands at $28 million for next year.

The University of Connecticut got an additional $26.5 million under the committee's budget, reducing its budget gap for next year from $40 million to $13.5 million, according to spokesman Tom Breen.

The committee also restored cuts that the governor had made to a scholarship program for college students. Malloy had proposed reducing funding by $4.6 million next year and $7.6 million in the following year by eliminating new awards for students attending private institutions.

The legislators restored funding for scholarships for all private colleges except those with endowments in excess of $250 million, including Yale, Wesleyan and Quinnipiac universities and Trinity College.

Roberta Willis, a member of the committee and co-chairwoman of the legislature's higher education committee, said it was important to restore the scholarships for students at private institutions.

"Many take a lot of low-income students and they have excellent completion rates," Willis said. "So if we're looking at trying to meet a goal of trying to increase college completions in the state … private colleges have to be part of that equation."